82% Say Workers Should Be Allowed To Choose Their Own Insurance

Though a majority of voters believe the system of employers providing health insurance to their workers is a good one, most believe employees should be allowed to pick their own.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters shows that 82% believe that, if it didn’t cost the employer any extra money, a worker should be allowed to pick his or her own health insurance plan if they didn’t like the one provided by the employer. Only eight percent (8%) say the worker should not have this option. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Voters were also asked about a scenario in which a company provides health insurance for a worker and his family that costs $1,000 a month but the worker decides to switch to other coverage that costs only $800 per month. In this situation, 52% of voters think the worker should get the $200 monthly savings, while 34% say the company should get it. Another 14% aren’t sure.

Still, 61% of voters like the fact that most working Americans have health insurance provided by their employer. Twenty-four percent (24%) do not think this is a good system for providing health insurance, while 15% more are undecided.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls).  Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook. 

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on July 24-25, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.